BJP hits back at Congress on “political espionage” charge

BJP on Saturday hit back at Congress for charging the Modi government with conducting “political espionage” on Rahul Gandhi, saying the opposition party has the habit of seeing conspiracies even in “routine” matters and considered itself above the law.

BJP also used the occasion to question the absence of Rahul Gandhi, saying his continued absence had “disturbed” the Congress so much that this has led to the party leaders’ “loss of mental balance” and they do not know what they were saying.

BJP spokesman Sudhangshu Trivedi termed the police verification on Gandhi as a “routine exercise” carried out by the Delhi Police for years, saying the same had been done even in the case of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah, veteran leader L K Advani and other senior opposition leaders like M Veerappa Moily, Naresh Agarwal and K Chandrasekhar Rao.

“It is a routine exercise being carried out for years. If Congress wants to make this a political issue, it shows its mentality that it considers itself above the law,” he said.

Congress, Trivedi alleged, was devoid of any issues that is why it was making an issue out of such matters to gain political relevance.

He alleged Congress had resorted to snooping during its own rule when reports of bugging on the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had surfaced but no satisfactory explanation was given by the government.

“In the last government, such allegations of espionage cropped up during the UPA regime with regard to former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on which no unsatisfactory answer was given.”

The BJP leader also accused Congress of appointing a special officer in the Home Ministry for only keeping a close watch on the developments in Gujarat, which was “unprecedented” and against all norms and the federal structure.

“Doing politics on such issues is part of their character,” he said.

Trivedi had a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying he has made a place in the media for “negative” reasons only prior to and after the polls and should find some positive reasons too and is thus introspecting and will surface after “attaining wisdom.”

“We never made an issue on Rahul Gandhi’s whereabouts…He is a very important person in the country but the country does not know where he is. He is an MP but Parliament does not know where he is.”

“He is the vice president of a party but his party does not know where he is and his family does not speak out. He is like one who appears in the heart of everyone but is invisible,” he said.

The BJP spokesperson charged Congress with having a mindset of doing such snooping and thus does this kind of politics.

“The kind of mindset they have, they wish to continue to do such politics,” he said.

Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of carrying out “political espionage” on Rahul Gandhi claiming his staff had caught a Delhi Police official seeking “unwarranted and weird” enquiries about him.

Source:: Indian Express